From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.5-pre1 (2020-06-20) on ip-172-31-74-118.ec2.internal X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.8 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_50 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.5-pre1 Date: 17 Sep 93 00:59:11 GMT From: cis.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!howland. reston.ans.net!spool.mu.edu!caen!nic.umass.edu!noc.near.net!news.delphi.com!new s.delphi.com!not-for-mail@ucbvax. (LSMITHERS@DELPHI.COM) Subject: Re: Ada Pricing & Quality ?? - Vendors Message-ID: <27b24v$su8@news.delphi.com> List-Id: [drivel deleted] > The Ada industry (if such a thing exists) should have been offering >libraries starting in the late 1980's. Ada83 is plenty good to be used for >such libraries. But what kills the Ada library business (as measured by the >number of companies that went broke trying to do so), and Ada in general, >is that Mandated contractors don't buy libraries - thanks to Defense ^^^ >procurement regulations and N-I-H syndromes. Mr. Aharonian chooses to ignore the rationale for the DOD's regulations because it does not square with his business profits. The defense department follows a simple set of rules. 1. A contractor may provide a reuse library to the DOD for a fee. 2. That library becomes government property. 3. To cut costs, other contractors should be able to use that software free of charge. The key fact to remember: If a contractor pays for a reuse library originally developed under DOD sponsorship, they can not charge the DOD for its purchase price. This prevents someone from double-charging the government for software. Simple and smart economics. Also why someone like businessman Aharonian has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to DOD procurement. Why should a contractor pay a reuse librarian like STO for government software when (1) they can get it for free and (2) they won't be able to charge it against software expenditures anyway? (Hint: add some value) Lon Smithers "Will C and C++ merge? Or will a new dialect,like C+,emerge from the fusion?" Grading system courtesy of P.J.Plauger, Dr.Dobb's Journal